Top Non-Surgical Butt Treatments

This week’s episode of “Anti-Aging Insights” dives into the topic of hyperpigmentation and the different types of skin lesions that can cause uneven skin tone. Dr. Teri Fisher breaks down the causes, prevention, and treatment options for hyperpigmentation, including sun damage, hormonal changes, and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH).

Sunspots are the most common form caused by prolonged sun exposure, often appearing on hands, face, and shoulders. Dr. Fisher highlights the importance of consistent sunscreen use to prevent these blemishes. Hormonal changes, particularly during pregnancy, can lead to melasma or the “mask of pregnancy,” which commonly affects the cheeks, forehead, and chin. Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation results from skin injuries or inflammation, such as acne lesions.

For treatment, Dr. Fisher recommends a dual approach—including high-quality medical-grade skincare products and advanced machine-based therapies. Key skincare products include hydroquinone, which reduces melanocyte activity, and herbal alternatives like Arbutin and niacinamide (Vitamin B3) for skin tone balance. Dr. Fisher emphasizes the efficacy of medical-grade products due to their regulated active ingredients compared to over-the-counter options.

Machine-based treatments available at Anti Aging Medical and Laser Clinic include Broadband Light (BBL) and PicoWay lasers. BBL uses light to break down pigment, while PicoWay employs ultra-short laser pulses to target and disintegrate melanin. Both treatments effectively even out skin tone, as demonstrated in before-and-after photos Dr. Fisher shares during the episode.

Dr. Fisher advises customizing treatments based on individual skin types and combining creams and machines for optimal results. He also reminds listeners about the importance of consulting a doctor for any concerning skin lesions to rule out serious conditions like skin cancer.

As fall approaches, it’s an ideal time to consider these treatments, as reduced sun exposure minimizes skin sensitivity risks post-treatment. Dr. Fisher invites listeners to visit Anti Aging Medical and Laser Clinic in Vancouver for personalized consultations and treatments aimed at achieving balanced, radiant skin tone. Join us next week for more valuable insights into non-surgical cosmetic and aesthetic medicine.

Key Insights

• Hyperpigmentation is commonly caused by sun exposure, hormonal changes (e.g., melasma during pregnancy), and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation from skin injuries.
• The primary methods to manage hyperpigmentation are the use of sunscreen and a good skincare regimen to prevent further pigmentation issues.
• Effective treatments include medical-grade creams, such as hydroquinone for reducing melanocyte activity, and natural alternatives like Arbutin and niacinamide.
• Advanced treatments involve machines like Broadband Light (BBL) and PicoWay lasers, which target and break up melanin to even out skin tone.
• Customized treatments combining creams and machine therapies often yield the best results, and it’s advised to consult a doctor if there are concerns about specific skin lesions.

Episode Transcript

Dr. Teri Fisher: Hey there and welcome to this week’s episode of the podcast. Today, I’m talking all about hyperpigmentation, different types of skin lesions that can cause an unevenness in your skin tone. And I actually did an Instagram live specifically about this topic just in the past week while I was at the clinic, and I thought, Hey, I’ve already done this, why not share it as a podcast as well? So what you are going to hear is my Instagram live. You can actually catch this on Instagram on the Anti Aging Medical and Laser Clinic Instagram profile. And what you’ll hear is me speaking about hyperpigmentation, things that cause it, things that we can do about it, and hopefully this will give you some insight into what you can do if you are not quite satisfied with the evenness of the skin tone. So without any further ado, let’s get right into it. This is the Instagram Live of me talking about hyperpigmentation. Enjoy.

Hello, it’s Dr. Teri Fisher here at Anti Aging Medical and Laser in rainy Vancouver today. Today’s topic is all about Pigmentation or hyperpigmentation, increased amount of pigment in the skin. And we’re going to talk a little about what causes that and some of the things that we can do to help balance out that color in the skin if that’s something that you are looking for. Hyperpigmentation means hyper, more of the pigment, and pigment is in your skin as a result of the work of melanocytes, which are the cells that create the melanin. And melanin is found in lots of different places in your body but everybody’s got some melanin in their skin. Different people have different amounts of melanin, which can affect how much color, how much pigment, how much how dark the skin is. And one of the things that I want to highlight today is some of the before and afters when it comes to how we can help to correct some of that unbalanced pigmentation.

First of all, there are lots and lots of reasons that you can get hyperpigmented skin. Probably the most common one is as a result of being exposed to the sun. Sun damages our skin over time, and we can start to develop sunspots, particularly over the age of 40. And I can admit, although I’ve tried to be really good with sunscreen, I’ve even got some sunspots on my hands here. They’re a very common place to get sunspots, areas that are exposed to sun. So you’ll often see that on the hands, you’ll often see it on the face, sometimes on the shoulders, and that sort of thing.

You can also get hyperpigment from hormonal changes. It’s very common in pregnancy to have some changes, particularly on the face. Some of you will be familiar with a term known as melasma and that is often known as the mask of pregnancy. And it is a hyperpigmentation that can occur on the cheeks, on the forehead, on the chin. And it’s relatively common, and there are things that we can do to balance out that hyperpigmentation, and again, I’ll get to that in a moment.

Another common cause of hyperpigmentation is known as post inflammatory hyperpigmentation, or PIH. And that can be the result of any type of injury or trauma to the skin. Burns, even like picking at acne lesions, can sometimes lead to that. And so this is another area that we often treat here, is again the post inflammatory, so there’s been some type of inflammation in the skin, and then we are dealing with that which has caused that hyperpigmentation.

So, how can we deal with the hyperpigmentation? There are two main ways that I would say if we could break those down. You’ve got the type of skin care, so products, creams, etc and I’ll get into that. And we’ve also got different types of machines that can help to deal with that.

When it comes to skin care, probably the most important thing that you can do to prevent hyperpigmentation is to use sunscreen. As I mentioned, the sunspots can be quite common, particularly if you haven’t been using sunscreen. So be proactive, use the sunscreen, and as well, have a very good skincare regimen to help you protect your skin.

Now, if you want to target specifically hyperpigmentation, there are certain creams that you can use for that. Now, I will say one thing. When it comes to creams there are all different quality of creams out there. You can buy cheaper things over the counter, you can buy more expensive medical grade things. A lot of those medical grade things are medical grade because the amount of the active ingredient in them are very strictly regulated. And so you know what you are getting. When you buy some of the cheaper creams, you don’t always know what you’re getting. You don’t always know how much of that active ingredient is in the cream. And so it’s really important, I think, to realize that you get what you pay for, and it’s important to use a high quality, really reputable brand, medical grade cream when it comes to any of these types of issues that you’re dealing with.

Of course here at Anti Aging we’ve got a whole selection of those. I won’t get into that today, but that is something that we can certainly help you with if you come in and chat with us.

Some of the key creams to consider. There’s hydroquinone, and this helps by decreasing the activity of those melanocytes, so you get less of that melanin. This is a cream that can come in different concentrations. And depending on your individual skin, we can give a recommendation as to what concentration will be best for you. These are often used for a limited time. It is the strongest of the creams that we can suggest when it comes to balancing out that hyperpigmentation.

If you want something that’s a little bit more along the herbal lines, there’s something known as Arbutin. And this is often known as nature’s hydroquinone, and it comes from the leaves of a variety of berries, actually. And it also does help to reduce the melanin, and that can help to balance out some of the skin.

As well, niacinamide, which is a vitamin B3, is very effective when it comes to the skin tone as well in terms of balancing that out. So those are some of the creams that we can suggest.

When it comes to machines, there are two main machines that we have here and generally are used to help with hyperpigmentation. One of them is BBL or broadband light and it is a using light to fire at the pigment, at the melanin, and to break it up. We also have PicoWay, which is a type of laser and pico, as you may know, is a very, very small unit of something and PicoWay has ultra short firings of this laser to help break apart that melanin and to help then balance out the skin tone. These are both treatments that we have here at our clinic, and both are very effective to help balance skin tones.

I want to share with you a couple of before and after photos. So you can have a look at some of the treatments that have been done here. This one you can see the various patches of pigment throughout the face and you can see the after photo. And this was an example of using some machines as well as some creams to help with that tone. And you can see this is a beautiful result here when you look at that before and after.

Here is a second one and again, when you look at the patches of the brown hyperpigment here compared to the even tone of the skin here, you can see again that this has had a beautiful result and this is from using some of our machines, in this case.

So that gives you an idea of the type of result that you can look at and you can expect when you have the right type of treatment for your skin type. Having said everything that I’ve just said, it is important that we customize things to your own skin. So, depending on your baseline skin tone, depending on the type of hyperpigmentation that you have, we may be able to recommend to you a particular type of cream, we might choose to recommend a machine, or more often than not, we really want to get this to be as effective as we possibly can, and then we’ll use a combination of cream and a machine. And that’s how I believe we can get the best results.

Something that I will also say is always if you do have a particular skin lesion that you’re worried about it is advisable to see a doctor. We want to make sure that we’re not missing anything that could be potentially quite serious, like a skin cancer. So if there’s something in particular that you’re concerned about, definitely get it checked out by a doctor. But when it comes to overall skin tone and sunspots and PIH and melasma, there’s lots of options for you here. We’re happy to help you out with that.

So that’s a little overview of hyperpigmentation, creams, machines, here at Anti Aging Medical and Laser. We are happy to have you come on in. This particular time of year is a great time of year to look into this particular type of treatment because we’re getting into those days where it’s not as sunny. And one of the things that we do caution people about when they are having some machines is being out in the sun too much because your skin can be quite sensitive after that. And right now with the fall weather coming upon us, it’s a great time to have this type of treatment.

So with that said, Dr. Teri Fisher here, signing off for Anti Aging Medical and Laser. Great to have you join us this week and we’ll see you again next week for the next Instagram Live.